Trump ex-campaign chief Paul Manafort gets 43 more months in jail

Roderick Gutierrez

While Trump could pardon Manafort for his federal crimes, he does not have the authority to issue pardons in state cases.

Ellis' sentence was relatively lenient, as Manafort could have been sentenced to around 20 years in prison. On August 22, 2018, Manafort was found guilty on eight charges, including bank and tax fraud.

The change, proposed by Democratic state Attorney General Tish James, aims to fix an unintended loophole in the state's double jeopardy law, which prosecutors have warned could allow defendants with a presidential pardon to argue they can't be charged with similar state crimes. Together, the two sentences total 7½ years, although Manafort will be given credit for the nine months he has already spent behind bars. MSNBC's Joy Reid tweeted that in light of Jackson's "harsh words, as reported", it "seems like he still got leniency, no?"

Vance's Office said a Grand Jury returned indictments against Manafort, 69, for a yearlong residential mortgage fraud scheme through which he and others falsified business records to illegally obtain millions of dollars.

Jackson had ruled on February 13 that Manafort breached his agreement to cooperate with Mueller's office by lying to prosecutors about matters pertinent to the Russia probe including his interactions with a business partner they have said has ties to Russian intelligence.

After Manafort was sentenced by Judge Ellis last week, the president falsely tweeted that Ellis and Manafort's lawyer "stated loudly and for the world to hear" that Trump didn't collude with Russian Federation.

"The no-collusion mantra is simply a non sequitur", she said, suggesting that those arguments were meant for an audience outside the courtroom - presumably the president. And Politico's Eric Geller responded, "Amazing".

Wow. Downing is saying that Judge ABJ found that there was no evidence of Russian Federation collusion.

"Liar!" one person shouted. At last week's sentencing, Manafort wore a green prison jumpsuit emblazoned with the words "Alexandria Inmate" on the back.

Following the sentencing, Trump said he feels "very badly" for Manafort and also insisted he's not now considering a pardon, saying: "I have not even given it a thought as of this moment".

The move is seen as a strategy for preventing a potential presidential pardon, as Trump has repeatedly defended Manafort and floated the idea of pardoning Manafort. Melber also noted that even though Jackson added 43 months to the time Manafort will spend in federal prison, it is "still a lot less than he was up for in the entire case".

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